The future of financial aid

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Four financial aid directors at Monday's annual meeting of the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators had a murky outlook for the future of several financial aid programs.

Panelists predicted that growing dysfunction in Congress will have a profound impact on financial aid, as well as the demise of campus-based Perkins Loans and Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grants, federally subsidized loans, and possibly even Pell Grants.

Federal financial aid programs will also have to change to meet the needs of the rising number of students taking massive open online courses and other non-traditional paths toward a college degree.

From the article:

CHICAGO -- The landscape for federal financial aid has been so turbulent in the past two years, as Congress has voted seemingly every few months to change the rules on Pell Grants and student loans, that many who care about helping low-income students aren't looking any further than the next Congress -- or the possibility of sequestration in January -- for the future of financial aid. But at the annual meeting of the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators here Monday, four financial aid directors or regulatory experts from nonprofit, for-profit and public colleges tri...